“A
Streetcar Named Desire”
OPENED
THIS WEEKEND
This
Tennessee Williams play led by director Larry Adams-Bowers is a must-see for
mature ACT I audiences.
Featured cast members are Nancy Beckman as Blanche, Nicholas Radcliffe as
Stanley, Joan Cooling as Stella, Darran Sellers as Mitch, Lois Ewins as Eunice
Hubbel, Joe Trealor as Steve Hubbel, Alexander Vasquez as Pablo Gonzales, Jake
Fowler as the newspaper collector, Rhonda Westergard as the Mexican Woman and
the Nurse, and Jeff Kirby in his debut as the doctor.
As
well as acting in the production, Joe Trealor and Nicholas Radcliffe are also
serving as technical director and lighting designer, respectively.
Morgan Horning lends her expertise as assistant director.
This
beautifully cast, gripping drama opened Friday evening, September
10, at Tilford Auditorium at 7:30 PM.
Other showings include, September 11, 17, and 18 all at 7:30 PM and
September 12 and 19 at 2:00 PM.
Tickets may be purchased at the door or by calling 472-4300
Dress
Rehearsal Moments. . .
New
Piano
Thanks
to the generosity of a long time ACT I member, The Palace Theatre will be
equipped with a quality new piano. The
ACT I board has purchased an oak Baldwin studio piano for the Palace at a cost
of just under $4,600.00. The ACT I
board will pay $1,000.00 of the purchase price, another $1,000.00 will be paid
by our youth program, ACT I STAGE!, and the remainder of the cost is a gift from
Ron and Nancy Baldwin, in celebration of Ron’s recent recovery from cancer.
The piano will serve us well for our musical productions.
This season alone, it will be heard in the ACT I Variety Show in
December, the Kathleen Berger concerts in January, “The Secret Garden” in
February, and in March for the ACT I STAGE! production of “Hansel and Gretel.”
Ron
is a long time participant in ACT I. Most
recently he was seen as Mr. Brownlow in “Oliver!”
and served as House Manager for “Sleuth.”
He is currently in his second year of a three-year term on our board of
directors. And it was Ron who devised the name ACT I, for Area Community
Theatre, Inc.
The
ACT I membership is very grateful to you, Ron and Nancy, for the years of future
use and enjoyment the piano will give us and our audiences!
Auditions
The
following audition information and dates are announced
for our upcoming
productions of “The Secret Garden,”
“Hansel and
Gretel,”
and
"The ACT I Variety Show, I'll Be Home for
Christmas."
“The
Secret Garden” Cast and Requirements:
Men’s Roles: 
Women’s
Roles:
|
Archibald Craven
. . . . . . . . . . . . tenor
Dr. Neville Craven . . . . . . . . . . . baritone
Captain Albert Lennox
. . . . . . . . tenor
Ben
Wetherstaff . . . . . . . . . . . . . character baritone
Lt. Wright
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . baritone
Lt. Shaw
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . baritone
Major Holmes
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bass
The Fakir
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . high tenor
|
Rose
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . soprano
Claire
Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . soprano
Alice
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . soprano
Ayah
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . soprano
Mrs.
Medlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . non singing
Mrs.
Winthrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . non singing
maid
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . non singing, non speaking
|
Youth
Roles: 
|
Mary
. . . . . . . . . . . . . soprano
Colin
. . . . . . . . . boy soprano
Martha
. . . . . . . . . . . soprano
Dickon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . tenor
plus a children’s chorus of
8
– 10 members
|
Directors:
Steve Arnold,
director
Greg
Douma, music
director
“Hansel
and Gretel” Cast and Requirements:
Adult Roles:
Youth
Roles:
Peter
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . baritone
Gertrude
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . mezzo soprano
Witch
. . . . . . . mezzo soprano or baritone
(yes, men may try out for
the witch!)
|
Hansel
. . . . . . . . . . . . . boy soprano
Gretel
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . soprano
Sandman
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . soprano
Dew
Fairy . . . . . . . . . . . . . soprano
plus a children’s chorus of 10 – 16 members and a corps de
ballet
|
Directors:
Kathleen Berger (Artist in Residence), director and music
director
Aaron Murphy, assistant
director
Joan Cooling,
choreographer
Auditions
for:
|
Hansel,
Colin, Gretel, Mary, Dickon, Martha, and understudies.
These are all large roles requiring excellent singers and good actors.
You do not need to prepare anything, just come!
Students auditioning for Hansel, Colin, Gretel, and Mary must be in
grades 3 – 8. It is likely that
the boys playing Hansel and Colin will be asked to understudy each other, as
well as the girls playing Gretel and Mary.
Those auditioning for Dickon and Martha must be in ninth grade through
age 25.
Monday,
September 20, 6:30 PM
Tuesday,
September 21, 4:30 PM
Mercantile
Bank Community Room
Callbacks:
Thursday, September 23, 6:30 PM
Mercantile
Bank Community Room
The
Youth Callback session WILL BE VIDEO TAPED.
|
All
adult characters in "The Secret Garden"
Those trying out need not prepare anything for the
auditions. High School students are
welcome at the adult auditions.
Thursday,
September 30, 6:30 PM
Friday,
October 1, 6:30 PM
Mercantile
Bank Community Room
Callbacks:
Sunday, October 3, 2:00
PM
Location
to be announced
|
|
Peter, Gertrude, Witch, Sandman, Dew Fairy, and the children’s choruses
for “The Secret Garden” and “Hansel and Gretel.”
Tuesday,
January 11, 2000, 6:30 PM
Wednesday,
January 12, 4:30 PM
Callbacks:
Thursday, January 13, 6:30 PM
Location
to be announced
High
School students may audition for any of these roles. Middle School students may also audition for the Sandman and
the Dew Fairy. Any student in
eighth grade or below may audition for the children’s chorus.
All boys auditioning for the chorus must still be
singing in the treble voice.
|
Dance
auditions for “Hansel and Gretel” will be announced at a later date.
For
more information, please contact Steve Arnold (472-5308) or
sarnoldia@aol.com.
|
Variety
Show Auditions
Monday,
October 4, 6:30 PM
Tuesday,
October 5, 6:30 PM
Mercantile
Bank Community Room
We're
looking for a variety of acts on a Christmas theme. Contact Brenda
Hackbarth for more details at 472-3396.
|
September Trivia Quiz
(Settings)
All of
the plays selected for this year's main season are called "period shows," because they take place in a variety of locations and time periods other than our own.
"A Streetcar Named Desire" takes place in New Orleans in the 1940s; "The Secret Garden" in Yorkshire, England in 1906, and "Life with Mother" in New York City in the 1880s.
Identify the following past ACT I period shows by their time periods.
Tuscumbia, Alabama -- 1887
Salzburg, Austria -- 1938
New York City -- 1930
New York City,
-- mid 1950s
London,
-- 1547
London,
-- 1832
Northern England,
-- 1940
Answers
to the August Trivia Quiz (Velveteen Rabbit)
-
Keith
Mossman played the fire chief in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”
-
Doctors
were played by Bob LaGrange in “The Miracle Worker,” Dave Raines in “Oliver!,” and Ron Baldwin in “Night of
January 16th.”
-
Kordereau
Sellers played the role of Jimmy Sullivan in “The Miracle Worker,” whose
death after a fall is recalled three times by sister Annie Sullivan.
-
Clare
Horst demonstrated how to eat an animal cracker in “How to Eat Like a
Child.”
-
Darran
Sellers and other cast members in “The Girls in 509” wore the same style of
eye glasses that Darran wore in “The Velveteen Rabbit.”
-
Greg
Tucker wore a black leather jacket as the wolf in “The Lion, the Witch, and
the Wardrobe.”
-
Teddy
Bears were featured in a scene from “How to Eat Like a Child.”
-
The
record for the most twins in an ACT I show is held by “Oliver!,” which had 4 ½ sets of twins in the cast.
Congratulations to Kevin Bookmeier for returning the
winning entry!
Season Tickets May Still Be Purchased For New ACT I
Season
$35.00 for adults and $25.00 for students will purchase tickets to the remaining six ACT I productions, a discount coupon for $4.00 off
any ACT I admission, an ACT I membership, a $2.00 discount on admission to “An
Evening of Broadway and Pops with Kathleen Berger,” and a $1.00 discount on a
Grease Paint print subscription. ACT
I is also offering our special KidTix at a cost of $10.00 for all students in
eighth grade or below, which covers admission to “The ACT I Variety Show,”
“The Secret Garden,” “Hansel and Gretel,” and contains discounts on
other ACT I productions.
Orders should be mailed with your check to:
ACT I of Benton County
Season Tickets
Box 222
Vinton, Iowa 52349
Click here to download the order form!
ORDER FORM
Member of the Month
Steve Arnold
“I have never directed a show that I have looked
forward to doing with this much anticipation!”
Steve Arnold, president of ACT I and Grease Paint’s
esteemed September Member of the Month, will soon begin to fulfill one of his
greatest wishes. Later this month
he will commence the lengthy auditioning process for “The Secret Garden.”
This very difficult show filled with challenging singing and acting roles
is a production he has wanted to direct for many years.
"I
am pleased that ACT I has matured in its level of performance to the point that
we are able to meet the demands of such a beautiful show as 'The Secret Garden'
and that we will be able to fill al the roles with performers who can make it
truly memorable. It amazes me that a community this size has the human
resources to be able to produce such diverse shows as "The Velveteen
Rabbit" and "A Streetcar Named Desire" simultaneously and with
such a high degree of artistic success, with only two people involved in both
shows. The quantity of experienced talent in this town that is now focused
on producing theatre is incredible."
Steve, a veteran actor and director with ACT I, has
directed 11 productions for our theatre group (including “The Miracle
Worker” and “The Prince and the Pauper” – his favorites due to terrific
stories and near perfect casts that were a great joy to work with).
He has also performed in 7 ACT I productions, Andrew Wycke of
“Sleuth” being his favorite role. Steve’s acting credits
also include work with Theatre Cedar Rapids, Old Creamery Theatre, and Burlington Players’ Workshop,
as well as many high school and college productions.
Steve grew up in Cedar Rapids, graduated from
Jefferson High School in 1970, received his B.A. in Theatre from Coe College in 1974, and a M.A. in Special
Education from the University of Iowa in 1976.
He now teaches Special Education at West Elementary in Vinton.
He taught previously in Fairfield and West Burlington, where he entered
the political arena, being elected to two terms on the West Burlington City Council.
He also ran unsuccessfully for the Iowa legislature in 1986, and has
since given up politics in favor of devoting all his energies to theatrical
pursuits, his first love.
Steve has many wide and varied
other interests including
antiques, books, travel, and music. He
shares his life with his four year old Shih Tzu, Oberon. Steve
has written and performed four different shows for the Lion and the Lamb Bed and
Breakfast murder mystery dinners, performed with the regular assistance of
fellow ACT I members Charlie Vogl, Aaron Murphy, Nick Radcliffe, Matt Meyer, and Greg Tucker.
(ACT I members Kate Westergard, Holly Brown, and Lisa Elliot have also
served for the murder mysteries.)
Steve has also written over twenty unpublished
juvenile novels, a pursuit he has set aside to a large extent since becoming so
heavily involved in ACT I. Additionally,
he became involved with puppetry about 15 years ago and formerly performed
regularly, creating his own puppets and writing all his own material, both
religious and secular.
ACT I is indeed fortunate to have such a theatre
devotee at its helm. Steve procured
our visiting artist, Kathleen Berger, for our Artist In Residence program.
He has only recently stepped down as editor of Grease Paint (in fact much
of this issue was written and submitted by him.) He expends much time and energy maintaining the ACT I
website, which is updated at an amazing rate!
And, Steve also was instrumental in starting ACT I STAGE!, our youth
theatre group.
“Because theatre has always been a very important
and meaningful part of my life, I have tried to share that with the youth of our
community through my involvement with ACT I. It is vitally important in developing a lifelong appreciation
of theatre that quality age appropriate theatrical experiences be provided to
school age children, and I am pleased that ACT I and the community have been so
supportive of that.”
ACT I of Benton County salutes Steve Arnold for his
energy and dedication and wish him well as he begins “The Secret Garden.”
We think you’ll agree, he’s worthy of the task!
“The performing arts are becoming more and more a
vital part of life in Vinton. It is
so important to view the arts not as a luxury but as a necessary part of the
fabric of our community. The arts
bond us with both the past and the future and put us closer in touch with
ourselves, giving us a better understanding of human kind. Vinton is very fortunate that we will soon have the intimacy
of the Palace Theatre for the performing arts, enabling ACT I and other
organizations who will use it the means to give even better performances for the
enlightenment and enjoyment of the community we serve.
Unlike literature or the visual arts, the performing arts need a proper
public setting to showcase them, and the Palace is a wonderful gift Vinton has
given itself for just that purpose."
Message
from the Editor
It
has been more than a decade since I've been the editor of anything other than
our annual family Christmas letter. To that end, please bear with me as I
plod through my first few Grease Paint issues. I am fortunate to follow in
such capable footsteps. Steve has established a thorough and excellent
format, with a vault of back-up material, making my job quite easy.
I appreciate his support, encouragement, and help. And, I welcome
your suggestions and submissions. Please send your Email to g.horst@www.mebbs.com,
or call me at 472-5518.
Marcy
